Sometimes, my faith in humanity becomes restored. Tonight, we turned on the television, to see if there was anything even vaguely interesting. Instead, what we found was this: Rough Science. It's reality television I can get behind: send a team of scientists and engineers to a deserted area, and set them real survival challenges: map a coast-line, build a radio, create paper from scratch. It's actually enjoyable to watch: you can see the scientific process at work, and get into the real joy that is human creation. These aren't pretty people voting each other off, but people working for a common goal.
If more reality television was like this, I'd probably actually watch occasionally. I don't need a show to tell me that humans are rat-bastards who will stab each other in the back for a few dollars: I can see that every day. However, television that shows humans reaching beyond themselves, that I can enjoy.
Ps: Of course this was produced by the BBC. Are those people unable to make a bad show, or have I just not been forced to watch any?
Monday, January 31, 2005
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Top 10 (ish) random things that I wish to ramble about (because it just wouldn't be a blog without a top 10 list)
1. Sporks. What the hell? Why design something that is useful as neither a fork or a spoon? It's like redesigning a pencil, so that the eraser and the tip are on the same damned end!
2. Goats.com: really people. Read this. It's just plain funny
3. Cherubim (note: not Cherubs, dammit! People need to learn how to pluralize Hebrew)
How do you go from Winged beasts,
To cute babies with wings:
I mean, honestly, can you see these little guys bearing flaming swords, to guard the way to the Tree of Life? (Gen 3:24)
(and don't even get me started on unicorns. What a waste of a fertility symbol)
4. Spirit of the West is fun. It's like what would happen if Great Big Sea, The Fables, and Crash Test Dummies were able to transform into a giant robot-mega-band, with laser eyes.
5. There is a set of words in any language that is inherently funny, no matter the context. In English, some of these are kumquat, and Lemur (note: if you don't think these are funny, then you are wrong, because this is science). I plan to discover all the words, and string them together in one big joke. Now, there are some theories that state that if I did this, it would end the universe, but hey, that's a risk I'm willing to take to be popular at cocktail parties.
6. Rabbits are Logamorphs, not rodents. Neat, huh? Personally, I think that they just pretend to be Logamorphs to get better rates at the cinema.
7. Women in ball caps are hot. Don't know why.
8. Robert A. Heinlein was a decent author. Those people who think that he hung the moon and wrote fucking Shakespeare, however, are dough-heads.
9. Noam Chomsky is the most boring fucking speaker of all time.
10. SPOOOOOONNNNN!!!!
11. I just can't imagine using dating tips written by people with this little grasp on the English language. I'm sure that they have amazing insights to share (okay, where do they hide the go-ram "sarcasm" tags in html?!) but I'm still going to give these a pass.
Well, that seems sensibly senseless. Stay tuned for the News @ 6. (It's Post-Modern news: You make it up yourself! And yes, I know that was grossly unfair to post-modernism, and I'm sorry, so please don't beat me to death with cupcakes.)
1. Sporks. What the hell? Why design something that is useful as neither a fork or a spoon? It's like redesigning a pencil, so that the eraser and the tip are on the same damned end!
2. Goats.com: really people. Read this. It's just plain funny
3. Cherubim (note: not Cherubs, dammit! People need to learn how to pluralize Hebrew)
How do you go from Winged beasts,
To cute babies with wings:
I mean, honestly, can you see these little guys bearing flaming swords, to guard the way to the Tree of Life? (Gen 3:24)
(and don't even get me started on unicorns. What a waste of a fertility symbol)
4. Spirit of the West is fun. It's like what would happen if Great Big Sea, The Fables, and Crash Test Dummies were able to transform into a giant robot-mega-band, with laser eyes.
5. There is a set of words in any language that is inherently funny, no matter the context. In English, some of these are kumquat, and Lemur (note: if you don't think these are funny, then you are wrong, because this is science). I plan to discover all the words, and string them together in one big joke. Now, there are some theories that state that if I did this, it would end the universe, but hey, that's a risk I'm willing to take to be popular at cocktail parties.
6. Rabbits are Logamorphs, not rodents. Neat, huh? Personally, I think that they just pretend to be Logamorphs to get better rates at the cinema.
7. Women in ball caps are hot. Don't know why.
8. Robert A. Heinlein was a decent author. Those people who think that he hung the moon and wrote fucking Shakespeare, however, are dough-heads.
9. Noam Chomsky is the most boring fucking speaker of all time.
10. SPOOOOOONNNNN!!!!
11. I just can't imagine using dating tips written by people with this little grasp on the English language. I'm sure that they have amazing insights to share (okay, where do they hide the go-ram "sarcasm" tags in html?!) but I'm still going to give these a pass.
Well, that seems sensibly senseless. Stay tuned for the News @ 6. (It's Post-Modern news: You make it up yourself! And yes, I know that was grossly unfair to post-modernism, and I'm sorry, so please don't beat me to death with cupcakes.)
Friday, January 28, 2005
Mind... Broken....
In honour of my illustrious wine padawan's ("Its a moot point, because I'm Yoda") fascination with Leonard Nimoy, I shall share with you the most horrible things imaginable:
1) a Leonard Nimoy music video about Bilbo Baggins
2) A collection of Star Trek related songs sung by Leonard Nimoy
Yes, I hate me too for posting this, but hey, misery loves company.
1) a Leonard Nimoy music video about Bilbo Baggins
2) A collection of Star Trek related songs sung by Leonard Nimoy
Yes, I hate me too for posting this, but hey, misery loves company.
Thursday, January 27, 2005
A few things
Well, I'm killing time, trying to avoid studying for botany, so I thought I'd put out another set of incoherent musings.
Point the First: I'm starting to think that onion wine may have been a bad idea. Now, I can here the collective shout of "DUH!" going up, but I still think it was worth a shot. However, I'm starting to understand how Hercules felt when he first smelt the Augean Stables... No sane person should be obligated to smell yeasty onion. I'm still holding out hope for this one, but if it hasn't improved at second racking, well, my wine Padawan and I shall have to make a decision whether or not to kill our baby.
Point the Second: Colds really suck, especially the kind that leaves you shivering on the floor for several hours. I don't get sick too often, but when I do, I'm usually hit pretty hard. I think after a certain point, my immune system's union decides that it needs more hazard pay, and goes on strike.
Point the Third: Soul Coughing is amazing. I re-realize that every time I plug their "Best of" album in. The only problem is, it makes some of the worst background music ever. Every time I listen to them, I have to turn all the lights off, and just listen. (Also makes damned fine night-driving music.)
Point the Fourth: This is amazing. It's a pseudo-webcomic, and highly enjoyable. The archives are small, but from what I've seen, this is going to be on my "check all the time" list. It's got a wonderful, minimalist style, and amazing photography. I just love it.
Well, and back to studying... yay.
Point the First: I'm starting to think that onion wine may have been a bad idea. Now, I can here the collective shout of "DUH!" going up, but I still think it was worth a shot. However, I'm starting to understand how Hercules felt when he first smelt the Augean Stables... No sane person should be obligated to smell yeasty onion. I'm still holding out hope for this one, but if it hasn't improved at second racking, well, my wine Padawan and I shall have to make a decision whether or not to kill our baby.
Point the Second: Colds really suck, especially the kind that leaves you shivering on the floor for several hours. I don't get sick too often, but when I do, I'm usually hit pretty hard. I think after a certain point, my immune system's union decides that it needs more hazard pay, and goes on strike.
Point the Third: Soul Coughing is amazing. I re-realize that every time I plug their "Best of" album in. The only problem is, it makes some of the worst background music ever. Every time I listen to them, I have to turn all the lights off, and just listen. (Also makes damned fine night-driving music.)
Point the Fourth: This is amazing. It's a pseudo-webcomic, and highly enjoyable. The archives are small, but from what I've seen, this is going to be on my "check all the time" list. It's got a wonderful, minimalist style, and amazing photography. I just love it.
Well, and back to studying... yay.
Monday, January 24, 2005
Coping
Here I sit, listening to angry folk and drinking aged whiskey. I found out yesterday that my uncle died. I'm still trying to understand how I feel about this, or maybe how I should feel about this.
I barely knew Axel. He was my dad's brother, older than him by 2 years. He lived mostly in BC, so we rarely saw him. What I did hear of him was never good: a thief, a man who basically sponged off others, and lived out of his car. (But what separates him from me? What gives me the right to judge him? I don't know the circumstances of his life...)
All I can feel right now is a sense of sympathy for his wife and kids. For him, I feel a detached sense of loss, but I honestly have nothing else to tie any other feeling to. I wish I had known him better, even if he wasn't the best person in the world. I really have no idea of who he was as a person, and now I'll never really know.
I barely knew Axel. He was my dad's brother, older than him by 2 years. He lived mostly in BC, so we rarely saw him. What I did hear of him was never good: a thief, a man who basically sponged off others, and lived out of his car. (But what separates him from me? What gives me the right to judge him? I don't know the circumstances of his life...)
All I can feel right now is a sense of sympathy for his wife and kids. For him, I feel a detached sense of loss, but I honestly have nothing else to tie any other feeling to. I wish I had known him better, even if he wasn't the best person in the world. I really have no idea of who he was as a person, and now I'll never really know.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
You must see this...
Sometimes, something comes along, so breathtaking, so striking, that it changes everything you thought you knew about beauty. I think Broken Saints has that spark to it.
Don't check this out if you don't have a good connection or a great deal of time. However, if you do, then I'd say this is a must see. It's set up as an animated comic book: text dialog, along with fixed pictures, played using Flash, with a bit of animation and a beautiful background score. This alone would have made it interesting, just because it hasn't been done before. However, it's the writing that got me. I've only watched the opening 18 minute chapter, and already, I'm hooked. Elements of mythology, religion, and technology weave their way through different locales, using only the bare minimum of explanation, letting the art do the talking.
Okay, I could rave about this comic (movie? What would you call this?) for a lot longer, but frankly, checking it out for yourself is worth so much more. So, stop reading now, and follow the damn link! Krull commands it!
Here's hoping the rest of the work (12 hours of it... wow) keeps up with what I've seen so far....
Don't check this out if you don't have a good connection or a great deal of time. However, if you do, then I'd say this is a must see. It's set up as an animated comic book: text dialog, along with fixed pictures, played using Flash, with a bit of animation and a beautiful background score. This alone would have made it interesting, just because it hasn't been done before. However, it's the writing that got me. I've only watched the opening 18 minute chapter, and already, I'm hooked. Elements of mythology, religion, and technology weave their way through different locales, using only the bare minimum of explanation, letting the art do the talking.
Okay, I could rave about this comic (movie? What would you call this?) for a lot longer, but frankly, checking it out for yourself is worth so much more. So, stop reading now, and follow the damn link! Krull commands it!
Here's hoping the rest of the work (12 hours of it... wow) keeps up with what I've seen so far....
Monday, January 17, 2005
III'mmm baaaaccckkk
Yay! I am now the proud owner (again) of my own damned PC! No more surfing the net on school computers! Hopefully, this means I'll be starting that Steam Punk game soon (so you can rejoice, TJ) and posting here more often.
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Okay, since this seems fun, and because I have marching orders from my commandant, I shall now inflict a survey on you! Bwahahaha.
Three Names You Go By:
1. Eric
2. Ricky
3. Sven
Three Things You Like About Yourself:
1. I love the bizzare
2. My drive to understand and explore
3. I know who I am
Three Things You Hate About Yourself:
1. my lazyness
2. compulsive behaviours
3. my lack of any self-confidence
Three Parts of Your Heritage:
1. Humanity
2.
3.
Three Things You're Afraid Of:
1. mediocrity
2. Living a life without joy
3. Jesse Third.
Three of Your Everyday Essentials:
1. Wine
2. Coffee
3. nature
Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. sweater
2. wool socks
3. 'push on this' shirt
Three of Your Favorite Bands:
1. Captain Tractor
2. everything else varies from day to day.
3.
Three of Your Favorite Songs at Present:
1. Captain Tractor - 1000 goodbyes
2. The Pogues - New York Fairytale
3. The Beatles - Ob-la-di ob-la-da (Life Goes On)
Three Things You Want To Try In The Next 12 Months:
1. Tree Planting
2. Writing "Maurice, King of Canada"
3. Learning the violin
Two Truths & A Lie:
1. I once chased a car down with a cabbage
2. I've tried camel riding
3. I declared war on gravity
Three Things You Just Can't Do:
1. listen to an entire Lenard Cohen CD
2. Smoke
3. get a lip ring
Three of Your Favorite Hobbies:
1. role-playing
2. flying (really, more of a way of life...)
3. Photography
Three Things You Want To Do Really Badly Right Now:
1. Go travelling again
2. Skydive
3. go to a mall in a pirate hat and a lab coat again....
Three Careers You're Considering:
1. Ecologist/evolutionary biologist
2. coffee shop owner
3. traveller.
Three Places You Want To Go On Vacation:
1. Madagascar
2. Brazil
3. Iceland
Three Things You Want To Do Before You Die:
1. have a family
2. Spend time on every continent
3. Fly/own a zepplin
Three Names You Go By:
1. Eric
2. Ricky
3. Sven
Three Things You Like About Yourself:
1. I love the bizzare
2. My drive to understand and explore
3. I know who I am
Three Things You Hate About Yourself:
1. my lazyness
2. compulsive behaviours
3. my lack of any self-confidence
Three Parts of Your Heritage:
1. Humanity
2.
3.
Three Things You're Afraid Of:
1. mediocrity
2. Living a life without joy
3. Jesse Third.
Three of Your Everyday Essentials:
1. Wine
2. Coffee
3. nature
Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now:
1. sweater
2. wool socks
3. 'push on this' shirt
Three of Your Favorite Bands:
1. Captain Tractor
2. everything else varies from day to day.
3.
Three of Your Favorite Songs at Present:
1. Captain Tractor - 1000 goodbyes
2. The Pogues - New York Fairytale
3. The Beatles - Ob-la-di ob-la-da (Life Goes On)
Three Things You Want To Try In The Next 12 Months:
1. Tree Planting
2. Writing "Maurice, King of Canada"
3. Learning the violin
Two Truths & A Lie:
1. I once chased a car down with a cabbage
2. I've tried camel riding
3. I declared war on gravity
Three Things You Just Can't Do:
1. listen to an entire Lenard Cohen CD
2. Smoke
3. get a lip ring
Three of Your Favorite Hobbies:
1. role-playing
2. flying (really, more of a way of life...)
3. Photography
Three Things You Want To Do Really Badly Right Now:
1. Go travelling again
2. Skydive
3. go to a mall in a pirate hat and a lab coat again....
Three Careers You're Considering:
1. Ecologist/evolutionary biologist
2. coffee shop owner
3. traveller.
Three Places You Want To Go On Vacation:
1. Madagascar
2. Brazil
3. Iceland
Three Things You Want To Do Before You Die:
1. have a family
2. Spend time on every continent
3. Fly/own a zepplin
Sunday, January 09, 2005
A challenge
Okay, here's an idea for everyone on here who enjoys telling stories (and I'm going to take a leap here in saying: all of you. Don't try to deny it TJ, because I've heard you tell them. You wouldn't be in paleontology if you didn't.)
I just read this story over on cbc.ca. In short, the guy is asking: can anyone write a story in Star Trek (read, SF in general) style to convince people that space exploration, even if only to find fossils of other lifeforms, is worthwhile and exciting.
So, I put it to you, oh creative and brilliant readers, what would be a good story idea? What could you do to make this idea exciting, while keeping the science real, and avoiding stupid Hollywood premises like "secret alien artifacts found on mars!!"? I'm tossing around a couple vague ideas, but I'm curious to see what other plot concepts you guys can come up with.
So, any thoughts?
I just read this story over on cbc.ca. In short, the guy is asking: can anyone write a story in Star Trek (read, SF in general) style to convince people that space exploration, even if only to find fossils of other lifeforms, is worthwhile and exciting.
So, I put it to you, oh creative and brilliant readers, what would be a good story idea? What could you do to make this idea exciting, while keeping the science real, and avoiding stupid Hollywood premises like "secret alien artifacts found on mars!!"? I'm tossing around a couple vague ideas, but I'm curious to see what other plot concepts you guys can come up with.
So, any thoughts?
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Disclaimer: this is a pretty personal post, without much relevance to anyone besides me. Feel free to ignore it.
I've come to a realization: I'm really bad at writing. That's not to say I'm a bad writer, since objectively my writing doesn't seem to bring anyone pain. However, anytime I sit down to write, I find myself constantly questioning wording, comprehension, even basic grammar, to the point that I become paralyzed. I go entire weeks without posting here, not because I have nothing to say, but because I honestly can't get what I want out onto the screen. Right now, I've got Open Office open, staring at the screen trying desperately to write a 500 word essay. I can here all you humanities majors scoffing at the idea of a difficult 500 word essay, but I honestly can't even figure out the starting sentence. The only time I never encounter this problem is when I have no choice: when I'm writing essays on finals, I get 90's. When it's the last day before an essay is due, the words just flow. But give me a two month deadline, and I'm stuck spinning my wheels. It doesn't help that I'm naturally inclined to put things off, so everything I do is last minute. And when I do write something, I'm loath to look at it again, for fear that what I've written is entirely incomprehensible.
So, have patience with me, for not posting here, for not responding to comments, for not submitting to things. It's not that I don't want to, it's just sometimes too much to deal with.
I've come to a realization: I'm really bad at writing. That's not to say I'm a bad writer, since objectively my writing doesn't seem to bring anyone pain. However, anytime I sit down to write, I find myself constantly questioning wording, comprehension, even basic grammar, to the point that I become paralyzed. I go entire weeks without posting here, not because I have nothing to say, but because I honestly can't get what I want out onto the screen. Right now, I've got Open Office open, staring at the screen trying desperately to write a 500 word essay. I can here all you humanities majors scoffing at the idea of a difficult 500 word essay, but I honestly can't even figure out the starting sentence. The only time I never encounter this problem is when I have no choice: when I'm writing essays on finals, I get 90's. When it's the last day before an essay is due, the words just flow. But give me a two month deadline, and I'm stuck spinning my wheels. It doesn't help that I'm naturally inclined to put things off, so everything I do is last minute. And when I do write something, I'm loath to look at it again, for fear that what I've written is entirely incomprehensible.
So, have patience with me, for not posting here, for not responding to comments, for not submitting to things. It's not that I don't want to, it's just sometimes too much to deal with.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
A few New Years reflections
Well, another exciting and eventful New Years past. I think I learned (or was reminded of) quite a few important things:
1. Never, ever, mix homemade apple wine and coffee pudding. It doesn't leave you hung over per se, but I imagine that feels a great deal like what a hang-over would feel like if it was invented by a guy with a really mean sense of humor and a penchant for raspberries and cinnamon.
2. The British still have a knack for dry humour. Shawn of the Dead is possibly the funniest movie I have seen in 2004 (with the possible exception of the Incredibles). However, I still consider Bubbah Ho Tep to be the best Indy/cult movie of the year. Shawn was hilarious and had great action, but Ho-tep transcended both humour and action, ascending into a state of zen-like surrealism that my mind wanders through on a daily basis.
3. The most sublime glorious moments are those ones that happen when you just shut up and let the world talk to you. I am still struck by the image of looking up for just a second, and seeing the moonlight broken into a thousand pieces by the swirling snow. I don't know the words to describe how deeply that moment affected me.
4. There are bad movies, there are bad movies, and then there's Lawnmower Man. Those who have spent any time around me know me as a person who adores watching a truly bad film. Therefore, understand what I mean when I say I wish never to think about Lawnmower Man again. When you're half-way through the movie and you're still wondering if this wasn't just a really low budget, oddly shot soft-core porn, you know you have reached a new pinnacle of bad. I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is wrong with Stephen King. Does he sell movie rights to crack-dealers on the street? Does he never watch his own movies? Or, is it that all the stories he ever wrote that were worth making into movies were made into movies in the first 2 years, but the studios know that anything with his name attached would sell, so just produce every story he wrote?
In summary, this movie was bad, bad, bad. Which probably means that it'll become tradition to watch it every New Years, because hey, it's me and TJ.
5. The greatest thing anyone could ever hope for is to find a friend like TJ. I really like having someone around to finish my thoughts, throw me in snow banks, and trust with anything. Knowing people like TJ are what keeps my faith in humanity alive.
6. 1992 was a really useless year. We pulled out the old "1992: Year in Review Trivial pursuit" game (yes, my entire family are all geeks), and were bored to tears. Apparently Ross Perot was a hot topic that year. However, playing the game we found out about the band "Elvis Hitler", who's album "supersadomasochisticexpialidocious" I must now find.
Well, that was my New Years.... Pretty much a standard one for our group, which really is sad beyond belief....
1. Never, ever, mix homemade apple wine and coffee pudding. It doesn't leave you hung over per se, but I imagine that feels a great deal like what a hang-over would feel like if it was invented by a guy with a really mean sense of humor and a penchant for raspberries and cinnamon.
2. The British still have a knack for dry humour. Shawn of the Dead is possibly the funniest movie I have seen in 2004 (with the possible exception of the Incredibles). However, I still consider Bubbah Ho Tep to be the best Indy/cult movie of the year. Shawn was hilarious and had great action, but Ho-tep transcended both humour and action, ascending into a state of zen-like surrealism that my mind wanders through on a daily basis.
3. The most sublime glorious moments are those ones that happen when you just shut up and let the world talk to you. I am still struck by the image of looking up for just a second, and seeing the moonlight broken into a thousand pieces by the swirling snow. I don't know the words to describe how deeply that moment affected me.
4. There are bad movies, there are bad movies, and then there's Lawnmower Man. Those who have spent any time around me know me as a person who adores watching a truly bad film. Therefore, understand what I mean when I say I wish never to think about Lawnmower Man again. When you're half-way through the movie and you're still wondering if this wasn't just a really low budget, oddly shot soft-core porn, you know you have reached a new pinnacle of bad. I'm really starting to wonder what the hell is wrong with Stephen King. Does he sell movie rights to crack-dealers on the street? Does he never watch his own movies? Or, is it that all the stories he ever wrote that were worth making into movies were made into movies in the first 2 years, but the studios know that anything with his name attached would sell, so just produce every story he wrote?
In summary, this movie was bad, bad, bad. Which probably means that it'll become tradition to watch it every New Years, because hey, it's me and TJ.
5. The greatest thing anyone could ever hope for is to find a friend like TJ. I really like having someone around to finish my thoughts, throw me in snow banks, and trust with anything. Knowing people like TJ are what keeps my faith in humanity alive.
6. 1992 was a really useless year. We pulled out the old "1992: Year in Review Trivial pursuit" game (yes, my entire family are all geeks), and were bored to tears. Apparently Ross Perot was a hot topic that year. However, playing the game we found out about the band "Elvis Hitler", who's album "supersadomasochisticexpialidocious" I must now find.
Well, that was my New Years.... Pretty much a standard one for our group, which really is sad beyond belief....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)